June 25, 1903] 



NATURE 



175 



psychology as the study of the functional needs of the 

 . iitral nervous system. His book exhibits great 

 vchological learning, but is marred, I believe, by an 

 radicable inconsistency of principle. He does not 

 m to have definitely made up his mind whether the 

 (icesses of mental life are truly teleological (as he 

 1 bally asserts) or purely mechanical (as he frequently 

 implies). Thus he exalts the significance of habit, 

 or, as he calls it, "organised reaction," and mini- 

 mises that of pleasure, pain and volition in determin- 

 ing action to a degree which leaves it a mystery how 

 a new purposive reaction ever gets established. 



A. E. T. 



Heredity and Social Progress. By Simon N. Patten, 

 University of Pennsylvania. Pp. i + 214. (New 

 York : the Macmillan Company ; London : Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 1903.) Price 5s. net. 



Useful as analogy may be for purposes of illustra- 

 tion, it forms a precarious basis for scientific argu- 

 ment. Dr. Patten's book exemplifies the danger of 

 attempting to formulate general laws on the strength 

 of more or less superficial resemblances between 

 phenomena belonging to diverse natural conditions. 

 Such first-sight correspondences may legitimately be 

 employed in the way of suggesting or indicating an 

 underlying law, but in the absence of verification by 

 comparison with all related facts, they are incapable 

 of carrying an induction beyond its preliminary stages. 

 These principles, which would seem to be sufficiently 

 obvious, are practically ignored in the present work, 

 which accordingly, in spite of some clever reasoning, 

 is vitiated throughout by its faulty method. The 

 author's premises being unsound from the outset, his 

 arguments cease to be of interest except as exercises 

 of logical ingenuity. A few examples will show the 

 kind of biological doctrine to which Dr. Patten asks 

 our as-sent. It is not such as to justify confidence in 

 either his facts or his method. *' The germ cell. . . 

 has, therefore, the conditions of consciousness and 

 more readily may be assumed to be the seat of con- 

 ousness than any other part of the body. In fact, 

 a process of exclusion it would seem to be the only 

 possible seat of consciousness." "The nerve, in its 

 effort to emit its sex products, presses against the skin 

 and partially breaks through. The skin hardens over 

 the injured part and the tooth results, which holds the 

 nerve in." "The brain ... is a sex organ that 

 never attains its elementary functions." "The play 

 of the emotions is sufficient to account for the reduc- 

 tion and disappearance of organs." It will be seen 

 that the author is not to be taken seriously. His book 

 is simply a monument of misapplied ingenuity. 



The Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 By Graham Balfour, M.A. Second edition. Pp. 

 xxxi + 307. (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1903.) Price 

 75. 6d. net. 



The first edition of Mr. Balfour's book was published 

 five years ago, and since that time events of the 

 greatest importance have taken place in English and 

 Irish education. The consequence is that the present 

 issue differs in many respects from the previous one. 

 To students of education the volume is already well 

 known, at least by name, and in its enlarged form 

 it should prove of great assistance to members of the 

 new education authorities being formed in all parts 

 of the country as a consequence of the passing of the 

 Education Act, 1902. 



The education of the British Isles is considered under 

 the three headings — elementary, secondary, and higher, 

 but, as Mr. Balfour says, this is likely to be increasingly 

 difficult, as the three grades are becoming parts of that 

 organic educational whole which it is essential to 



NO. 1756, VOL. 68] 



form in this country. There is one direction in which 

 the value of the book might be much enhanced, and 

 that is in showing what has been done in this country 

 by private effort for higher education. No educationist 

 has yet instituted an exhaustive comp.;nson between 

 the extent of private munificence in aid of higher 

 education in this country and in the United States, 

 though a beginning was made in Nature (No. 1750). 

 Such a comparison would do much to quicken public 

 interest in higher education. The book may be re- 

 commended to all who wish to obtain an accurate 

 and comprehensive idea of the present state of educa- 

 tion in the British Isles. A. T. S. 



Alpine Flora. By D. J. Hoffman, translated by E. S. 



Barton. Pp. xii+112. (London: Longmans, Green 



and Co., 1903.) Price 75. 6d. net. 

 It is a notable fact that many travellers who have little 

 or no knowledge of their native flowers often become 

 keenly interested in the flora of the Alpine regions, and 

 the reason is not far to seek, for the attraction lies in 

 the richness of colour and lavish abundance which 

 characterise the flowers growing on the mountains. 

 There is therefore a demand for a book, with illustra- 

 tions, preferably coloured, and written in fairly simple 

 language, vv^hich will enable the amateur or novice to 

 name his botanical specimens. Such is mainly the 

 object of the present book, originally written in German 

 and translated for the benefit of English travellers. It 

 is naturally a difficult matter to decide which flowers 

 to represent in a small book of moderate price, the 

 limitations of which are imposed by the cost of produc- 

 tion of coloured plates, and the selection is on the 

 whole judicious. There are a few plants, such as 

 Hacquetia epipactis, Lilium carniolicum, which are not 

 found, or rarely so, in Switzerland and the Tyrol, which 

 might have been excluded in favour of others of more 

 common occurrence. The colour contrasts are good, 

 excepting for a weakness in the tone of the pinks, and 

 a similarity of blue in the gentians. Mrs. Gepp has 

 introduced more precise terms in the English edition, 

 which add to its scientific value, and yet should not 

 offer any difficulty to the amateur, since a glossary is 

 provided. The book may advantageously be used with 

 Gremli's " Flora fiir die Schweiz," and will be a 

 material help to those botanists who have not pre- 

 viously visited the European Alpine ranges. 



Arnold's Country-Side Readers. Book i., pp. 144; 



price lod. Book ii., j p. 176; price 15, Book iii., 



pp. 214; price 15. 2d. Book iv., pp. 236; price 



15. 4^. (London : Edward Arnold, n.d.) 



Arnold's Seaside Reader. Pp. 264. (Same Publisher.) 



Price IS. 6d. 

 The title of the first four of these reading books for 

 schools suggests that the reading lesson should be 

 utilised to give the pupil some knowledge of the natural 

 objects of the country at the same time that he is 

 learning to read, and there is much to be said for such 

 a plan. An examination of the contents of the volumes 

 shows that much interesting information about 

 common plants and animals is placed before the young 

 learner ; but there is so bewildering a medley of fairy 

 tale with descriptive natural history that the boys and 

 girls who are set to learn from the books will scarcely 

 be able to decide where fancies end and facts begin. 

 The same diversity of contents characterises the " Sea- 

 side Reader "; instructive lessons on fishes and other 

 sea animals are interspersed with accounts of naval 

 battles and biographical sketches of naval heroes. On 

 the whole it would be wiser in such books to exclude 

 the fairy tales and historical chapters ; there is romance 

 enough about natural science without other aid being- 

 necessary. The books are well printed and attractively 

 illustrated. 



